I. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to finding log files generated by computer nodes of a distributed computer system.
II. Background Information
Computers commonly use log files to record details of executions of processing tasks, such as software applications. For example, as a computer executes a software application, the computer may record preselected details of the execution process, such as errors, in a log file. The log file can later be analyzed to review the execution process. For example, a human operator can review the log file to identify errors in the execution process and debug the software application.
Grid computing is a form of computing that distributes computer resources, such as computational resources and data storage resources, among multiple computer nodes to execute coherent processing tasks, such as software applications. These resources are managed to improve efficiency and permit the execution of resource-intensive tasks that may otherwise be impractical. For example, an application can be divided into components that are deployed to multiple respective computer nodes to prevent bottlenecking of resources at any particular computer node.
In one conventional mode of grid computing, each of the computer nodes independently generates and stores log files relevant to the application components that are executed on that computer node. For example, each of the computer nodes may generate at least one separate log file per execution of an application component. However, accessing the log files may be slow and difficult because the log files are stored at the separate locations of the computer nodes.
To improve accessibility, the log files can be stored in a centralized data storage location. In this way, the multiple computer nodes do not have to be separately accessed and searched to find recorded details of the distributed processing of an application across the multiple computer nodes. Rather, the centralized data storage location is accessed to find and analyze the processing details recorded therein. For example, if an error occurs in the distributed processing of the application, one or more of the log files in the central data storage location can be analyzed to determine the problem that caused the error.
However, grid computing can generate a large number of log files in the central data storage location. It may be time-consuming and inconvenient to identify relevant log files among a large number of irrelevant log files. Moreover, it can be difficult to present the locations of all of the relevant log files to a human operator in a user-friendly manner.
Thus, it is desirable to more efficiently identify relevant log files generated during grid computing in a computer-readable storage medium. It is further desirable to visually display the locations of the identified log files in the computer-readable storage medium to a human operator.